Job Discussion Forums

[tttompatz]

[ippollite]

Semi auspicious start. On a course of rabies injections after stupidly getting bit by a stray My own fault too. Id decided they were my doggies and started looking after them every time i came back to mt apartment (i have to walk through the street they live on). One got a little over eager (not her fault) and snatched at the food i was feeding them breaking the skin.

Ah well, ive been bitten by so many dogs in my life (cant help it, love them to bits) i probably should have gotten my immunisation anyways

[ippollite]

More random questions! Actually really just a couple...

I see youre on the ajarn forums tttompatz, you must be pretty busy dude

Anyways... almost all the jobs state this qualifier on the salary: at least (xxxxx)baht.
Am i to take that as an invitation to haggle the salary a bit?
Most government positions seem to be around 30,000 for positions a fair few hours away from a decent city. Whats a fair haggle on this? Is pushing above 40k for a first time placement pushing my luck a bit, or am i still thinking a bit low based on my experience and references?

[tttompatz]

[ippollite]

Had a couple of people mail me direct from Ajarn today. Pretty sure i was overpricing myself at the minute despite the seven years experience in Japan and Korea. Was rather surprised to be solicited to be honest, it aint exactly how it works in Japan. So took that as an opportunity to push my luck a bit and test the waters since its really the start of the recruitment push by the looks of it.

Ill maybe hold out for 35k+ positions but i guess the real message is that 30,000 for a state school is a fair wage and if the right location crops up, maybe take the entry level and accept that i need to either switch from public school to private language schools and get the qualifications in the school holidays if im looking for genuine savings.

Thanks for the info tttompatz... dont want to price myself out of possible opportunities

[tttompatz]

IF you've had an E2 and PS experience in Korea or JET in Japan then 32-36k on a 12 month contract with non-b visa, WP and 6 weeks of annual, paid vacation added as benefits is the bare minimum you should be looking at for 20-22 classes per week (based on an 8-4:30 work day, M-F).

40k (30 classes and 50 weeks/year) is certainly do-able in a language center anywhere outside of the tourist centers (like CM, Phuket, Pattaya, etc.). You might be able to parley a bit more in places like BKK and the "burbs" based on a few years of hagwon experience in Korea.

Jump through the hoops to get your TCT license over the next year or two and that number goes up to 50+ in k-12 schools.

.

[ippollite]

I has me my job. Not exactly swimming in the cash or anything at 32,000, but it was bumped up from 30 so beats a kick in the teeth. Plus and though others might be like "rather you than me, mate" but its in sunny Trat (and by sunny i mean 20+ days of rain for the next six or so months with a whopping 4m per year rainfall (and june to september all getting over 600mm/month).

I know before anyone tells me, theres nothing to do. And by nothing, they really mean NOTHING. But gonna get me a moped and spend my time either hopping the border on weekends, island hopping and diving or heading off to pattaya or bangkok (3 hours to pattaya or 4.5 to bangkok making pattaya a more likely choice - then again i could just go to phnom penh). Could do with a nearby city, but other than that, a kagool, some books to read, a solid internet connection, a boat, and a house on 3 meter stilts and i should be golden. Heres to hoping i get a few solid sunshine weekends when i arrive just so i can make all my facebook friends mad jealous by pretending i live on Ko Kut.

[Coolguy123]

I'm curious how difficult your job search was. Pretty crazy about the whole "show up and find a job thing was", most people are pretty hesitant about such a notion.

[ippollite]

very very very easy. depends of course on what you want and what compromises youre willing to make. but it was so easy that i was happy to walk away from a few likely offers just because the location wasnt really what i wanted.

Naturally beaches closer to bangkok are pretty tough to find. I assume the same sits for krabi/phuket. But suburbs bangkok (nonthaburi/Pathumthani) seem to have a tonne of jobs going. And in pretty much all spheres (private, public, uni). Bangkok itself has plenty of jobs, but bit pricey living here and reaaaaaaallly easy to just pop out and spend money. Get a social life and youre lucky if youre even living pay cheque to pay cheque on entry level wage (30-35)

If i was after something comparative to my Japan/Korean lifestyle (buy what i like and still come home with a decent little bit of savings for a rainy day), i reckon you'd honestly need a 50,000 wage or thereabouts if you live in central bangkok. Then again, the longer you live here, the better youll obviously become at getting about cheap. Still, youll be cutting back on luxuries, and in a city like bangkok thats got to be sad The supermarket at the top of central world even has curly wurlys! Nom nom nom nom. But for the price you can get a bowl of yum at a street vendor.

So um, not sure why im telling you blatantly obvious common sense stuff, but as i say, its seductive. Even if you think you arent spending much, its definitely adding up.

...er, probably a bit of a tangent.

Basically stuck my resume up on Ajarn, "update" it daily to bump yourself back to the top of the list and if youve got degree plus teaching certificate, reasonably young and obviously presentable in your photo, and youll be hit up plenty of times by recruiters. I mean honestly, so few people in the pics bother to represent themselves formally. Its ridiculous. As far as entry level goes, ESL is just as much an image driven industry as it is a qualification driven one. Present yourself well and you'll score a job with barely any effort required. That being said, any application i instigated resulted in almost immediate contact and sometimes even flat out job offers without an interview (though maybe it lost something in translation).

So yeah, no doorstepping required if thats what youre worried about. Obviously youll get better deals by spec enquiring and negotiating your own contract but you probably need to know the lay of the land a little better. For first job though its easy enough.

[Coolguy123]

Ok, Ajarn.com, that's helpful. So basically the only reason you're required to be in country is they prefer to hire people that are able to start immediately or just want people to already be there? What's wrong with finding a job from abroad?

If Bangkok is so expensive I might have to look in other cheaper areas if that's the case, maybe northern Thailand or something.

[tttompatz]

[Wanderir]

Ippollite,
Thank you for starting this thread and to all those responded. It's been really helpful to me.

I'll be in Thailand again in a couple of weeks, I just flew to the US to tie up some loose ends and I'll be back to get my cert and find a job.